Behind the Scenes
by Maeve Morgan
Summary: Companion piece to Starlight Destiny. Outtakes from the main story with moments that happened in Kinmoku while the Earthen Senshi recovered.
1. Kakyuu and Seiya

**Disclaimer:** Sailor Moon, its characters and universe were created by Naoko Takeuchi. I'm merely a fan of the series, writing stories as an attempt to maintain sanity while studying. I expect no profit from this. Except for the sanity, of course.

Summary: Companion piece to Starlight Destiny. Moments that happened in Kinmoku while the Earthen Senshi recovered.

A.N.: This is just something with a few moments that happened mostly between chapters Seven and Eleven of Starlight Destiny. These moments just sneaked up on me, so they're a little bit like outtakes from the main story. As if Starlight Destiny were a TV series, and these were its webisodes, if you will.

This first scene takes place after the end of chapter Seven: Refuge, of Starlight Destiny.

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**Behind the Scenes**

_1: Kakyuu and Seiya_

Seiya Kou sighed heavily. This had turned out to be a way longer day than he had anticipated. He had definitely not expected to have this bombshell dropped on him in the middle of his shift with Security, he thought as he walked through the corridors of the hospital ward. Finally he reached the doors at the end and walked into the spacious room, locating the person he was looking for.

"My Queen," he said quietly, standing a few steps behind Queen Kakyuu. She was sitting by Usagi's bed and holding her hand, the reddish glow indicating she was still trying to cure her somehow.

"Seiya," Kakyuu said equally quietly, looking over her shoulder and gesturing at him to come over. He obeyed, standing beside her and they both looked down at the sleeping Moon Princess.

"You should rest," he said. "You used your powers a great amount tonight. We don't want you having another fainting spell."

She then sighed heavily, but relented to what he'd said, letting go of Usagi's hand as she just sat beside her. "I wish I could do more," she said, looking up at him, her red eyes clear with emotion.

"I know. We all do," he smiled faintly at her, putting a hand on her shoulder as a comforting gesture. "But at least they're here now, and we will help them in any way we can."

She nodded back at him. "I wish now we had gone back," Kakyuu confessed to him. "After we rebuilt our planet and it was peaceful again. Or we should have invited them over. Why should we only meet in times of conflict?"

"I know," Seiya repeated, swallowing a lump in his throat. In a way, he did wish they had gone back or invited them over to visit their planet, yet at same time he had always thought it was for the best that they hadn't. After all, what was the point in seeing them for a short while only to leave again? It would only hurt all over again, once they were gone. And not just for him, but for all of them.

But now that they were here and they were in trouble and gravely injured and with a new war rising, he couldn't help but think it'd been senseless to keep such a distance. After all, now they were all hurting anyway.

"We'll have time," High King Akihiko suddenly said, as he walked into the room and joined them. Seiya turned in surprise at him and Kakyuu looked up at him with curiosity. "We can still do that; we'll visit Earth many times, if you wish. Once we deal with this new enemy. We shouldn't lose hope, Kakyuu. You taught me that."

"_She_ taught us that," Kakyuu said with a smile, turning to look back at the sleeping Usagi. "You're right. We can never lose hope."

Akihiko smiled tenderly at his wife. He then approached them and said, "I hate to interrupt, but I believe we should rest for the night. We're all exhausted, and we should sleep and think about this situation more clearly in the morning. Together with everyone else."

"You're right, Akihiko," Seiya said with a faint smile. "I was just about to say so."

"That means you should also go sleep, Seiya," Kakyuu said, standing up and accepting Akihiko's supporting arm around her back. "Go home. That's an order."

"I wouldn't want to go against an express order from my Queen," he said in a partially mock-salute, and she just smirked at him. "However, I do have an overnight shift with Security to oversee."

"Don't be silly," she said, shaking her head slightly as her husband steered her towards the door. "I'm serious, get some rest. With the way you are right now you're no better than our very apt computerized systems."

"I have to agree with her," Akihiko said. "It will be all right, Seiya."

"Respectfully, I disagree," he said with a grim smile. "I don't think I would be able to sleep right now anyway." And he would never forgive himself if the enemy attacked them now while he were away, lying in his bed.

Kakyuu frowned at him as the three of them reached the doors and walked out into the corridor. "I could help with that," she offered with a casual shrug.

"No, conserve your energies for more important matters," Seiya shook his head. "Please, it's just something I need to do. In the morning we'll meet again, and after I settle things with Yaten I'll get some rest. I promise."

"All right," Kakyuu relented and Akihiko nodded in agreement and understanding. She reached over and kissed him tenderly on the cheek, and Akihiko patted him on the shoulder as they both left towards their private Chambers.

Seiya just stood there, watching them walk away until they turned a corner. Had it really only been a few hours before that he'd been merrily walking through the Castle and teasing Yaten about some inconsequential matter? It seemed like it'd happened a week ago. A lifetime ago.

Seiya then sighed heavily, ran a hand wearily through his hair and headed back to the Security Central Room. Since his fatigued body wouldn't give in to sleep, he might as well keep a watchful eye on everything while the others rested.


	2. Hikari and Yoko

**Disclaimer:** Sailor Moon, its characters and universe were created by Naoko Takeuchi. I'm merely a fan of the series, writing stories as an attempt to maintain sanity in a life occupied with studying and working. I expect no profit from this. Except for the sanity, of course.

A.N.: This scene takes place also at the end of Chapter Seven: Refuge. I mentioned in Starlight Destiny that I had a scene about Hikari and Yoko, and this is it. Nothing fancy, just filling in some blanks. Also, about half of what I'll post here I already had written before (or at the very least thought of) and didn't know how to fit into the original story. And don't worry; I'm also working on Chapter Twelve of Starlight Destiny. ;)

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**Behind the Scenes**

_2\. Hikari and Yoko  
_  
"All right," Akatsuki Yoko said as soon as the door into Yaten Hikari's apartment re-materialized and locked behind her back. "What did you see?"

Hikari, for her part, frowned somewhat as she walked to the kitchen, not so much at the question, as she knew Yoko would've broached the subject once they were alone. She frowned because she remembered the "vision" she'd had earlier that night and it very much confused her.

"Honestly, not what happened tonight," she said, pouring herself a glass of water. She took a few gulps, as her throat had felt dry all night as they'd gone back and forth between the hospital ward and meeting rooms. Even so, the water didn't seem to help much.

"But what was it?" Yoko insisted, following her and leaning on the kitchen island. "Come on, I know you saw something. I didn't ask about it before because I knew if it'd been important you'd have said something right away, but I was still going to ask you about it eventually."

"I know," Hikari sighed, frowning still. "It's just that—it doesn't make sense! I didn't see the future, I saw the past."

"What? The past? Are you sure?" Yoko now frowned as well. This had never happened before; Hikari had always only ever seen the future. At the green-haired clairvoyant's nod, she added, "but what part of the past, what was it?"

"I saw the moment when Galaxia attacked us," Hikari said in a whisper, turning her eyes to the floor as she continued in a monotone. "Akihiko was dead, and Hina was gone in a flash before our eyes. You and I dragged Kakyuu away, we battled Galaxia and then—" She broke off, shaking her head despondently. At once, she felt Yoko's arms enveloping her in a warm hug.

"You relived all of that in your vision?" Yoko asked, still hugging her.

"Pretty much," Hikari nodded, sighing. "I saw it all happening very fast, yet in as much detail as when it actually happened. It was weird, like fast forwarding a film or something."

"That never happened before, right?" Yoko questioned, releasing her so she could look at her face.

"No, never," Hikari shook her head. "Maybe it was the Universe's way of warning me, somehow. That there would be trouble. That Galaxia was coming back."

"Yeah, but this time she didn't come attacking us," her blonde partner said thoughtfully. "Do you believe her, by the way? That she's done fighting and she was only helping them?"

"Strangely enough, I do," Hikari said, nodding. "Kakyuu seems to trust her, and my brother said he didn't feel any ill intentions from her. He's still going to keep a close eye on her, of course."

"Of course," Yoko promptly agreed. "We should talk about this with the others, about your vision."

"I was going to, earlier, but I didn't know what it meant, and then Galaxia showed up with the Earthen Senshi and there were more urgent matters," Hikari said. "I'll tell everyone in the morning. We had a lot going on today. We all need to rest now."

"Okay, you're right," Yoko said with a smile of agreement. "Do you want me to spend the night? I was going to sleep at my place, since I had that late meeting and I thought you would get in late from your night out, but now that all of our plans got ruined…"

"Yes, please, stay over," Hikari smiled, and this time she was the one to snake her arms around her girlfriend's frame. "Just having you here is helpful already, it calms me down."

They just stood holding onto each other for a few minutes, taking comfort and finding strength in each other's presence. The future could seem bleak now, but it was important to remember they had each other, and their friends and new companions to help with all of this. They were not alone.


	3. Setsuna and Iphigenia

**Disclaimer:** Sailor Moon, its characters and universe were created by Naoko Takeuchi. I'm merely a fan of the series, writing stories as an attempt to maintain sanity in a life occupied with studies and work. I expect no profit from this. Except for the sanity, of course.

A.N.: I find that I really like writing Setsuna and delving into all the time related theories. This scene takes place between Chapter Seven: Refuge and Chapter Eight: Recovery, of Starlight Destiny.

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**Behind the Scenes**

_3\. Setsuna and Iphigenia_

Meioh Setsuna couldn't sleep.

Of course, it wasn't her first experience with insomnia. Every time they'd fought an enemy and the future got cloudy, she'd have trouble sleeping, worrying if the timeline was still in its correct path and of what she could do to ensure their bright future was still there. She'd had trouble sleeping for over a week now, starting back on Earth when she first detected in the Gates of Time that this new enemy was interfering with her abilities to see the future. And now in Kinmoku her situation wasn't very different, unfortunately.

Being Time Guardian, the enemy's sleep spell hadn't affected her as strongly as her companions. And so she was the first to wake up in Kinmoku and now all she could do was wait. Wait for their recovery, wait for them to wake up and wait for the next step in this newest battle.

On that first night, she'd actually fallen asleep quite quickly once the adrenaline rush came crashing down. But one night was enough for her to make her recovery, and now she was full of restless energy and unable to do anything to actually help her friends or do anything against this enemy.

Tossing and turning in bed in the private quarters on Tankei Castle that Kakyuu and Akihiko had given her wasn't getting her anywhere, so with an irritated sigh she pulled the covers from over her body, stood up and quietly transformed. Sailor Pluto then turned her Garnet Orb and in a flash she was gone from the room.

She then stood in the Gates of Time, right in front of the Time Door, the magic mist swirling at her feet and making way for her. She waved the Garnet Orb and the Time Door opened, revealing itself to her and the possible futures that were privy only to her eyes. But the mist didn't part to make way for her inside the Time Door; the future wasn't clear anymore, as it'd been since the beginning of this conflict. The last time this had happened was when Galaxia had attacked, and a sort of veil had remained over her visions of the future ever since, as if influenced by it. She didn't want to travel to a possible future, as it could be dangerous when the timeline was unstable. She could get stuck in there or alter something and cause irreparable damage. Still, she tried to see something and only got more frustrated and worried when she couldn't.

Pluto spent some time there in a seemingly vain effort and when she returned to Kinmoku, she could see through the window of her bedroom that the sun was about to rise for another day. As she considered quite a waste to spend more hours tossing and turning in bed, she de-transformed back to Meioh Setsuna, got ready and dressed for the day and left her quarters. She walked calmly through the corridors of Tankei Castle, wondering about their situation and a possible solution for their many predicaments, as she'd done for the past two days. Without conscious thought she wandered over to the hospital ward. Mitsuno Hina, the doctor in charge and fellow Senshi, had given her access to the ward at all hours and she found herself drawn to the room at the end of the main hallway, where three of the most important people in her life lay in a deep sleep.

Setsuna had grown accustomed to seeing people visiting Usagi, Mamoru and Hotaru during her trips there. Queen Kakyuu and King Akihiko made a point to spend a few moments there, even with their busy schedule, in addition to Kakyuu's time spent in the Queen's Prayer Chamber where she'd infuse her energy throughout the Castle and concentrate it on this room. Seiya was a constant feature as well, as she'd expected. She'd also seen the others visiting them and her other friends who were recovering at various moments. Yet this was the first time she encountered the former Sailor Galaxia sitting by Usagi's bed.

It was a bit disconcerting, for the woman sitting on the chair didn't resemble at all the ruthless warrior that had nearly taken over their entire Galaxy by Chaos's influence. Her appearance, posture and demeanor were completely different from the megalomaniac Sailor Galaxia, so much that Setsuna found it easy to call her Iphigenia instead of by her Senshi title, almost as if they were actually different people. Iphigenia's gaze was fixed on Usagi's face, yet her red eyes seemed far away.

The next moment, however, she turned and looked straight at Setsuna, as if she'd sensed her presence there. Iphigenia gave her a candid and welcoming smile. "Good morning, Sailor Pluto."

"Good morning, Iphigenia. Please, call me Setsuna," she said with a small smile of her own and walked up to her. "After all, I'm not dressed for battle right now."

"All right, Setsuna," she then said with a pleased smile. "Trouble sleeping or early riser?" She asked concernedly, tilting her head a little.

"Both, actually," Setsuna admitted with a sigh, and they both looked down at Usagi.

"I understand. I was watching over her," Iphigenia then said in a soft voice. "Wondering if there's anything I can do to help. However I don't have healing abilities like your Princess or Queen Kakyuu. My powers were always of a more destructive nature."

Setsuna nodded silently. She quite remembered said powers and everything they'd accomplished in the past. Yet it seemed that this time around the strongest Sailor Senshi in the Galaxy was truly determined to do things differently.

"So tell me, Guardian of Time," Iphigenia said, looking up at her with clear red eyes. "You have seen it all. Do you believe people can change? Or are we forever destined to follow a preordained path?"

Setsuna frowned at her question, for the concept of destiny was entirely more complex than most people thought. "It is not as simple as that," she said after a moment. "In everything we do there's free will. Sometimes there can be a clear path in front of you, but it is up to you to take it. You might want to follow a different path, one that is not as clear as the first one presented to you. But it is _your_ decision. Or for most things in life that's how it works. And then we have special cases, altogether more complicated."

"Like being a Sailor Senshi," Iphigenia commented, following her train of thought.

"Yes," Setsuna nodded along. "Our powers and our mission can be passed down through our bloodline, but I've never known of someone who quit being a Sailor Senshi without leaving an heir. That is one burden appointed only to certain chosen people by the Universe. Call it a curse or a gift, but it's your duty. You protect and fight and follow your destiny."

Iphigenia seemed to take it in, nodding slowly along her words. Her eyes turned down once more, seeking her hands, her fingers twitching lightly on her lap.

"Of course," Setsuna then said, "sometimes even your destiny as a Sailor Senshi can be altered, in extraordinary circumstances."

"Really?" Her red eyes turned hopefully back to her face.

"Certainly, otherwise the two of us wouldn't be having this conversation right now," Setsuna smiled. "I was fated to be the lonesome Guardian of the Gates of Time, never allowed outside of my domain. But thanks to Neo-Queen Serenity, I was granted a chance at a normal life on Earth, with my friends. I still have my duty of a Sailor Senshi and Guardian of Time, but I'm no longer alone."

Iphigenia blinked up her eyes as she absorbed what she'd said. It was true; Meioh Setsuna had been given a second chance at life, a different life than the lonely one she lived before. And so had Iphigenia. Their guardian angel was one and the same. When Eternal Sailor Moon had reached out and extended her hand, freeing and saving her from the clutches of Chaos, she'd finally known of hope and love. And with her help and by the powers of the Galaxy Cauldron, she was brought back to life along everyone else. Back to life to fulfill her duty of a Sailor Senshi. Yet this time she chose a completely different life.

"Yes, that is true," Iphigenia then said, smiling in reply. "In our past lives the two of us would never have been able to stand here and have this conversation, for so many reasons. I can now understand how, even though we have a destiny, the future is not set on stone."

"You're correct. We should never take anything for granted or as certain. It's all about the choices we make, ultimately," Setsuna reiterated, her expression rather grim and serious.

"I understand," Iphigenia nodded, also serious now as she stood up. "I should go now. I like to stay by Queen Kakyuu's side as she does her ritual praying." The two women stood up and regarded each other for a moment. "I quite like you, Setsuna. I'd be interested in having more talks with you."

"Likewise," Setsuna replied with a quiet smile. "And after all, it seems we do have a lot of time in our hands."


	4. Hikari and Yaten

**Disclaimer:** Sailor Moon, its characters and universe were created by Naoko Takeuchi. I'm merely a fan of the series, writing stories as an attempt to maintain sanity in a life occupied with studies and work. I expect no profit from this. Except for the sanity, of course.

A.N.: This is a missing scene from Chapter Eight: Recovery, of Starlight Destiny. Hikari did mention she would seek out her brother to find out what was going on, but I never got to show how that went down. Here it is.

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**Behind the Scenes**

_4\. Hikari and Yaten_

At the sound of the control system announcing a visitor, Yaten Kou got up from the couch and went to the front door of his apartment to answer it. As the door dematerialized, he found his twin sister in the hallway, smiling at him.

"Hey, bro! What's up?" Yaten Hikari said casually, leaning against the doorframe.

Yaten raised an eyebrow at her. "Bro? You don't call me 'bro'. What's going on?" He said as he turned around and walked back to the living room.

"Well, that's actually what I've come to ask you," she said, following him in and the door re-materialized and locked behind her. "I heard you haven't been in to work for a few days, is everything all right?"

Yaten turned around to face her once more with a rather disbelieving expression all over his face. "Are you serious? Do you not realize we're in the middle of a situation right now, a sensitive and worrisome situation that will most probably evolve into conflict and a possible war for us?"

Hikari was rather taken aback at this. Of course, she knew he was never one to hold back on his thoughts and emotions, and whenever they interacted it was even easier for his temper to flare up, as is the case with siblings where there are little boundaries, but she hadn't been expecting such a response. "Of course I know that," she said after a moment, frowning at him. "I'm dealing with this situation as well, and I'm worried about a lot of things, especially about you."

"Me?" He said, once more raising an eyebrow at her.

"You've been cooped up inside your apartment for quite a while now. I went looking for you and people said they hadn't seen you in days," Hikari explained, crossing her arms.

"Honestly, I don't need you coming here to lecture me about responsibilities," he retorted heatedly, rubbing a thumb on his temple. "I've cleared it with Kakyuu, and I've made arrangements so my department is running as smoothly as possible while I focus on this Senshi matter, okay?"

"Whoa, okay, okay," she said, raising her hands in a placating gesture. "I'm not judging you, I get it. I'm only worried about you and I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help."

"Yeah, right," he said with a grim smile. "I know you want to help, but you don't get it, okay? You don't know what it's like, you weren't there, you were—" He cut off abruptly, fearing he'd said too much.

"What? Dead?" She said, staring at him as she crossed her arms over her chest once more. "Yeah, I know, I'm well aware of that, but thanks for the reminder."

He grimaced at this, and softened up his tone. "Look, I'm sorry. That came out wrong," he sighed deeply, and she also frowned at him at this. "I didn't mean to upset you. I'm just—I'm tired and stressed and obviously I'm not handling this all very well."

"To say the least," she said, raising an eyebrow at him. "I only meant to help by coming over. I hadn't really seen you in the last few days and I thought maybe you wanted to talk to someone, but if you're only going to use me as a punching bag I think I'd rather leave."

"I know, you're right," he nodded slowly, mostly to himself.

"If you can't talk to me about it, then talk to someone who was there, who knows what it's like," she said. "Taiki and Seiya. I bet they're going through the same thing."

"They are, but they aren't," Yaten sighed, sitting down on the couch and looking up at the ceiling. "I've been away because I can't handle all the feelings. I can barely define what I'm feeling while I'm being assaulted by everyone's emotions wherever I go. It's like the whole Castle and the City have opened up a vault of anxiety and fear and let out all sorts of emotions."

"I thought you could usually block this," Hikari frowned at him, but she came closer and sat down on a chair perpendicular to the couch.

"Usually, yeah," he said, turning his head so he could look at her. "But this whole thing threw me and I can't seem to block it as efficiently."

"We've handled crisis before, even after we restored Kinmoku," Hikari said. "Why is it so different this time? Because of Galaxia?"

"Part of it," Yaten replied. "It's a big adjustment having her as an ally. I was used to hating her for so long, but that had all been in the past." He paused for a moment, and when he continued his voice was quieter. "They were all in the past. I never expected to see them again, and now they're here, and going through what we went through. I don't know what to think, I have no idea how I'm supposed to feel about this."

"Don't think, just feel," his sister shrugged simply in response. "You're doing this the wrong way around. You have to feel before you think about it. If you keep blocking your own feelings you're never going to know how you feel, and you won't be able to handle it." She gave him a smile. "And then you're only left with everyone else's feelings filling you up and confusing you."

He blinked up at what she said, taking it in. And then he smiled back at her, nodding. "That's good advice. Thanks."

"You're welcome. You see, that's why I'm the smart one and you're the pretty one," she winked at him, laughter in her voice.

"We're twins. We're equally pretty," he deadpanned back at her.

"True, but I was never a model," she insisted, with a teasing smile.

"Hey, you once lived on your looks as well, when we were young," Yaten protested, pouting a little.

"Not really. Ballet is about talent, performance, not looks," she said, still laughing.

"Yeah, and the fact that you're pretty didn't help at all, I'm sure," he rolled his eyes at her before continuing. "And anyway, I can't help it! When you're this beautiful, you're made for the camera. It's also a form of talent," he replied, flipping his hair, and she just laughed once more at him.

After a moment, he smiled genuinely back at her and Hikari returned the gesture. Yaten was glad that she'd come over to talk to him, and she was equally glad. She somehow always knew when her brother needed her most, either with encouraging words or a telling off so he'd stop being an ass.


	5. Taiki and Makoto

**Disclaimer:** Sailor Moon, its characters and universe were created by Naoko Takeuchi. I'm merely a fan of the series, writing stories as an attempt to maintain sanity while studying. I expect no profit from this. Except for the sanity, of course.

A.N.: Hey! I haven't given up on this, either. This scene happens somewhere during "Chapter Eight: Recovery". And I like to call it, Exposition on the Starlights.

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**Behind the Scenes**

_5\. Taiki and Makoto_

It was late evening and Kino Makoto made her last round of visits in the hospital ward. She spent most of the time there during the day, sitting with her friends who were still recovering. And every day before she retired to the private quarters in the Castle that had been provided for her she'd check them all one last time.

When she walked into Mizuno Ami's room, she found Taiki Kou sitting by her bed. The scene was becoming a usual one for Makoto, and she smiled as she approached them. "Somehow I knew I'd find you here," she said still with a smile.

"I was just checking on her," he said and made a motion to get up. "I'll give you some privacy."

"No, please, stay," she insisted, as she sat down on another chair. "It's actually nice having company here. These visits are awfully lonely. Haruka and the others don't like sitting in hospital rooms for long, so usually I'm by myself all day long."

"Okay," he said, settling down once more. "You spend a lot of time in the hospital ward."

"I don't know if there's anything else I can do," she replied with a shrug. "I want to help, but I'm not a doctor. I can strategize with Haruka and the others, but so far there's nothing concrete we can do, we just go round and round on what happened and what we should do next. Usually I could help with food, they always liked that! But as long as they're asleep, that won't help either."

Taiki looked at her for a few moments and then nodded. "You need to do something to distract yourself," he said. "Keep visiting them, but you should do other things besides sitting in hospital rooms. All the worrying will get to you at some point."

"Speaking from experience?" She asked with a tiny frown.

"Yes," he sighed in response. "Being idols on Earth wasn't only so we could find Kakyuu, it was something to keep us busy and keep us sane. You girls helped with that a lot, too."

"I'm glad that our chasing you around was helpful somehow," she said with a laugh. "God, we were silly teenagers! But you know, I never really thought about it, I just always assumed you'd been idols in Kinmoku and that's why you did that on Earth."

"God, no," Taiki chuckled in response. "Seiya was the one who came up with the idea. He's the only one who had actually been an idol originally over here. But he was sure Kakyuu would recognize the power in our songs, and it seemed like a good strategy to gain exposure and show her we were there, looking for her."

"Really? So what did you and Yaten do, before becoming idols?" She asked, curious now that he'd broached the subject.

"Yaten was a model," he said with a grin. "He also dabbled with photography, but mostly he was before the lenses and not behind them."

"Oh I can see that," Makoto nodded at that, also smiling.

"And I was mostly focusing on my education," he said. "We have a somewhat different upbringing over here, as we can work from an early age if we choose so and not just study. But I wanted to focus on learning before I had a career. So I was the most like a regular student. I did write a lot of poetry on my free time and published it, so Seiya thought it would be a good idea that I should write the lyrics to our songs."

"You wrote all your songs?" She blinked in surprise at that. "I had no idea!"

"Not all, most of them," he said with a smile. "Some songs the producers on Earth insisted we needed to sing. But the ones that became big hits, the ones we were singing to Kakyuu, yes, those were mine."

"You're very talented," Makoto said, looking at him in amazement and thinking of their songs under a new light.

"Thank you," Taiki replied. "To be honest, I never thought anyone would remember our songs after we left."

"You can't be serious," Makoto laughed lightly. "You guys were huge, and we still hear your songs playing on the radio every now and then. I've always loved 'Shooting Star'. Recently Minako recorded a cover of it and I couldn't stop listening to it."

"That's good to know. So Minako did it, then? She became the big idol she wanted to be?" Taiki asked.

"She did," Makoto nodded seriously. "After you guys left, we spent some time recovering and just being regular teenagers. But then she went after it with a fury I've never seen. She debuted in our last year of High School and rose to the very top. She's amazing!"

"I'm glad," he said with a quiet smile. "What about you? Did you become a cooking chef?"

"Yes," she grinned at him. "I opened up my bakery and my flower shop! We were all following our dreams. Usagi got married to Mamoru and became a mangaka, Ami was a surgeon and Rei was doing everything! Modelling, singing, song-writing, voice-acting and still working at the Shrine whenever she could."

"Ambition, thy name is Hino Rei," Taiki chuckled quietly at it.

"Something like that," Makoto also laughed at it. Then she grew quiet and more somber after a moment. "I suppose all of that is over now. At least we could enjoy living our dreams for a while."

"Why do you say that?" Taiki questioned, tilting his head a little to the side.

"Come on," she said, looking at him with raised eyebrows. "This is probably the biggest crisis we've had, I don't know if we can recover from it to the point of going back to the way things were. I feel like everything is lost."

"I know that right now you feel that way," Taiki said, nodding along at what she said. "You're fresh from the battle and leaving your planet and it all seems hopeless. But you all taught us to hope. And it can be done, we're here as testimonies of that. We rebuilt our planet and even if we're not without scars, Kinmoku is as beautiful as it was before. And you'll find new dreams to live."

Makoto just sat and absorbed what he said for a few moments. "Are your lives very different now, comparing to how it was before Galaxia?"

"I'm not going to lie, yes," Taiki said, going straight to the point. "But we were teenagers back then. We didn't have as many responsibilities as we do now. We could all work and have careers, but we weren't expected to take care of everything. Once Kakyuu and Akihiko ascended fully to the throne after rebuilding, we had to take bigger roles in the government, but we did it gladly."

"Hmm, okay," Makoto replied, mulling over it for a moment. "You're all divided in the Departments, right? Kakyuu told me that. You're in charge of the Department of Science and Technological Development?"

"Yes," he nodded. "I don't run it by myself, we have representatives elected by the people who help me greatly. But yes, I would say I'm the one in charge of it."

"What about the others?" She asked.

"Well, Seiya is a bit like Kakyuu and Akihiko's Chief of Staff and is also in charge of Security for the Castle. Yaten dropped modelling and now is the Head of the Department of Public Safety. Yaten's sister Hikari used to be a ballerina, but now she's with the Department of Justice and her girlfriend Yoko handles the Department of Treasury for the Castle and the government. Hina, as you already know, is the Director for the hospital ward in the Castle and she's also involved with the Department of Health," he explained. "You could say Hina and Yaten switched roles."

"How do you mean?" Makoto asked, in confusion.

"Traditionally, Sailor Star Charger was supposed to handle Public Safety, and Sailor Star Healer was the one in charge of the hospital ward," Taiki said. "But the two of them chose different career paths and are sort of in each other's roles."

"Oh I had no idea," she said. "But I have to say I could never picture Yaten as a doctor. A model, yes. Maybe even a policeman. But doctor? No."

"Yes, I agree," Taiki chuckled at that. "His empathy was supposed to help him as a doctor, but Yaten thought differently. Personally I think he would've done a great job, if he let himself do it. But maybe it would be too much for him to handle, in the end."

"Oh right, he's an empath," Makoto blinked somewhat in surprise. She remembered Minako mentioning something about it, long ago, but had forgotten all about it. "So empathy and clairvoyance run in the family?"

"Separate families," Taiki explained. "Yaten takes after their mother with the empathy, and Hikari takes after their father, who was also clairvoyant. They were the former Sailor Star Healer and Seer, in a time before we were born."

"Oh," she simply said, frowning somewhat in confusion. "Can I ask you something that's always confused me?" Makoto then asked with a rather embarrassed smile. "How come you guys are... guys? And the girls are girls? How does that work? I always thought Sailor Senshi were supposed to be women!"

"Oh it's quite simple," Taiki said with an easy smile. "Kinmokunians are born hermaphrodites. We can later on 'choose' or 'settle' for a gender, if we wish to. It's as much a choice as it is how we feel down to our cores. Some people never settle, and can present themselves with either gender one day or the other."

"That is such a weird concept for me," Makoto admitted with a confused smile. "But I can see how it actually works and it would make life easier for a lot of people." She thought of the people on Earth who were born hermaphrodites or about transgenders and crossdressers and how they suffered prejudice, or even of the social issues and discriminations regarding genders. She guessed in Kinmoku there wouldn't be such a problem.

The two of them kept on chatting about their friends, telling each other stories of what had happened in the time they'd spent apart. Makoto was starting to feel better, comfortable around this strange place that was starting to be a little more familiar as she talked to people and learned more about them.


	6. Hina and Makoto

**Disclaimer:** Sailor Moon, its characters and universe were created by Naoko Takeuchi. I'm merely a fan of the series, writing stories as an attempt to maintain sanity while studying. I expect no profit from this. Except for the sanity, of course.

A.N.: This scene happens right after Seiya carries Rei out of the room in the final scene in "Chapter Eight: Recovery". I'm introducing a few of my theories regarding romances, the Senshi and the Starlights.

* * *

**Behind the Scenes**

_6\. Hina and Makoto_

Mitsuno Hina could only stand gaping as Seiya Kou exited the room carrying her patient, against her express medical opinion. Then she crossed her arms and huffed, "I can't believe him!"

"I actually can," Kino Makoto replied softly from beside her, also looking at the open door. She smiled slightly and turned to Hina. "He understands her."

The Kinmokunian doctor frowned at this. "Look, I get it," she said. "She wants to make sure her Princess is fine. But there is nothing she can do to help her right now, and she should be resting and letting me take care of her."

"I get that, too," Makoto replied. "But it's irrational and I should've known that Rei wouldn't sit still before she could see Usagi for herself. And that's our Rei. She will go against express medical orders, but she will do what she needs to do."

"Great, another one," Hina rolled her eyes, and then elaborated before Makoto's rather confused expression. "Seiya is just like that. I guess that's why he did what he did. And I can see your friend is going to drive me crazy."

"She's not that bad, she's just very protective of Usagi and passionate about it," Makoto said with a smile. "Rei will go to the deep end to protect her. We all would. But Rei… it goes even beyond that."

Hina stared up at her for another moment. Then she suddenly had a dawning look in her eyes, as she said, "Oh I see. She's the one who jumped in front of Galaxia's attack and saved your Princess, right?"

"Yes, actually, she is," Makoto said, frowning a bit, curious about her question that felt more like a statement.

"I knew it," Hina then smiled. "Ok, then I was wrong. She's not like Seiya. She's Yaten!" And with that she just shrugged her shoulders, as if that explained everything, and turned around to walk away.

"Wait, what?" Makoto now frowned deeply, walking after her. "Like Yaten? What does that mean?"

"Oh come on," Hina said, looking up at her over her shoulder. "You're not going to make me say it, are you?"

"Say what? Hina, I really don't get what you're talking about," Makoto said, pulling gently yet firmly at her arm to get her to stop walking.

Hina just blinked up her green eyes at her and said, "You really don't know." She stared at the tall brunette for a moment. "I don't know if it's my place to say it."

"You've already started it," Makoto raised an eyebrow at her.

"Ok," Hina then pressed a button on the wall and the door closed, shutting them inside Rei's hospital room and giving them some privacy. "I'm going to tell you what I do know, because I'm not one to gossip and make conjectures about things that aren't my business."

"Right," Mako nodded at her.

"And I wouldn't have said anything, but I thought you knew about it," Hina added.

"I get it. Now what is it?" Makoto replied, starting to run thin on patience.

"Yaten is in love with Kakyuu," Hina just said without further ado. "Or then he was. Nowadays I think he's dealt with it and is okay with everything. But there was a time back then when it really troubled him, poor guy."

"Wait, what?" Makoto could only stare back at her. "Yaten? In love? With Kakyuu?!"

"Yes," the red-haired doctor nodded very seriously back at her. "I'm sure. I should know, as he's told me about it."

"Really?" Makoto kept frowning in shock and confusion. "I think I need to sit down," she said, walking over to a chair by the bed. She sat for a few moments mulling it over. "So you're telling me Yaten once told you he was in love with Kakyuu?"

"Yep, that's what he told me when we decided to stop seeing each other," she said with a shrug of the shoulders.

"The two of you dated?!" Makoto looked at her, once more in shock.

"Sort of," Hina drawled out. "It was a really long while ago, after the whole deal with Galaxia was done. And it didn't last long, I guess we were just lonely and—and that's it."

"Yet he was in love with Kakyuu, so he stopped seeing you?" Makoto recapitulated, and Hina nodded in reply. "And you're okay with this? Does Kakyuu know about it?"

"Oh she knows," Hina said. "I don't know if they ever talk about it, but she knows. There's no way she wouldn't know. And of course I'm okay! We're friends and comrades and I'll always care deeply for him. Even if most of the time he's a giant pain in the ass that has no idea how to have fun." She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Huh," Makoto just said, staring away at the wall. Then she turned back to the doctor, and she had a frown back in her face. "Wait a minute now. You said Rei is just like Yaten. So you're saying—?"

"Hey, I'm not making any diagnostic or testifying to anything," Hina said, raising her hands in a peace gesture. "I don't even know her or any of you guys that well, only what you've been telling me for the past couple of weeks. Oh and what the guys and Kakyuu told after they came back from Earth. Anyway, I'm just saying that based on my impression of her, it seems to be the same situation. And I'm not a psychologist, although I did my rotation on psych and I like to be up to date, but I could just be saying nonsense."

As Hina rambled on, Makoto had actually stopped listening and was going over a few things in her head. Suddenly something clicked, and she only looked through Hina as the realization hit her smack in the face, making her lose her breath a little.

"Huh." Makoto huffed out, nodding along slowly to herself.

"Mako-chan?" Hina watched her a little worriedly.

"Yeah," she replied, snapping her head up and refocusing her eyes on her. "Ok. So there you have it."

"Are you alright? I'm sorry I just came out with this, I didn't mean to shock you with so much so fast," she said, grimacing apologetically.

"No, it's okay. It did shock me a little, but I'm fine now. And it actually does make sense. I don't know how I never thought about it before," Makoto said. "I think maybe on some level I always knew—we all knew—but it was just something we never talked about."

"Quite possible, I think it was the same with us. The pink elephant in the room that everyone ignored," Hina nodded along. "And again, I'm sorry. From now on I'll keep my thoughts to myself regarding any more similarities between you guys and us, promise!"

"That's okay," Makoto replied with a laugh. "We can talk it up all you want, but just give me some warning, like at least tell me to sit down before you drop any more bombshells."

"Great, then let's grab some dinner and we can hash it all out!" Hina said, unlocking and dematerializing the door open. "I'm glad you're okay with this, because Hikari and Yoko have tired of hearing all my theories."

Makoto could only laugh as she followed her out the door. "You know, since we're talking about similarities, there's something about you that reminds me of Minako," she said, shaking her head a little.

"Really?" Hina raised an eyebrow at that. "Well, that's very interesting. Very interesting indeed."

"Oh I bet you already have a theory about that," Makoto replied, grinning in good humour at the shorter woman.

"A couple, yes," Hina nodded right back. The two of them kept talking and laughing as they went down the hall and out the hospital ward.


End file.
